Mint IRA and the advertised 5500 deduction value- How?

[stormblastsileno]

I'd already been considering opening an IRA, but it's all Latin to me and there's an overwhelming number of options. Personally, I don't care about anything but the bottom line: What do I need to open with Mint/where on the site, how much do I have to invest immediately or by the cut off (April?), and how long must I wait to a) be approved and b) acquire that $5500 deductible to weigh against a standard deduction?

[IreneS]

Mint.com is a free, web-based personal financial management service.  It will help you track your bills and accounts, including IRAs.  However, it is not a financial institution.  You need to select a financial institution set up the IRA.  You can then track it through Mint.com.  You can find information on institutions offering IRAs on the Mint website.

You can contribute to your IRA (or Roth) until April 18, 2017, and your contributions will still count toward your 2016 taxes.  You can go ahead and claim the contribution now on your return--just make the deposit by April 18.

For 2016, the most that can be contributed to your traditional IRA generally is the smaller of the following amounts:

• $5,500 ($6,500 if you are age 50 or older), or
  
• Your taxable compensation for the year.

However, if you or your spouse was covered by an employer retirement plan, you may not be able to deduct this amount. See Limit if Covered by Employer Plan, in IRS Publication 590-A.

To enter contributions to a Traditional IRA in TurboTax, please follow these steps:

1. Click on Federal Taxes > Deductions & Credits  [In TT Home & Biz:  Personal > Deductions & Credits > I'll choose what I work on].
2. Scroll down to the Retirement and Investments section and click on the Start/Revisit box next to Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions.  (See Screenshot #1, below.)
3. On the Traditional IRA and Roth IRA screen, mark the box for Traditional IRA and click Continue.  (Screenshot #2)
4. On the screen, Did you Contribute to a Traditional IRA?  click the Yes box (even if you haven't yet made the contribution, but plan to by April 18, 2017. (Screenshot #3)
5. Click the appropriate box on Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution?  (Screenshot #4)
6. On the Tell Us How Much You Contributed screen, enter the amount of your contribution and click Continue.  (Screenshot #5)
7. Continue through the screens, entering the requested information.

Please note that there is no deduction benefit for contributing to Roth IRA.  Only traditional IRA contributions allow you to take deduction on your tax return.

For more details on IRAs, please see the following IRS Publications:

• Publication 590-A - Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)

• Publication 590-B - Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)

[sva50233]

TurboTaxIrene: I opened a SEP IRA through the Mint.com website, from HonestDollar (aka Goldman Sachs). I funded $5,500 into it, and it was fully funded from my bank account. I entered the information as you have suggested above. However, I did not receive the $240 tax credit that was suggested by TT software. Instead, all I got was an increase of less than $10 to my State refund. My Federal Tax Due amount remained unchanged. Why?